Archives for May 2015

In my quest to develop my cupcake-making skills… I made some vanilla cupcakes topped with salted caramel popcorn this week.

Much to my children’s delight, I didn’t hold back with the sugar and butter.

I must say, they looked pretty amazing in the end!

I did a lot of careful research and chose a vanilla cupcake recipe, a salted caramel popcorn recipe and a caramel frosting recipe… from three different sources.

Unfortunately I’m not going to share the recipes with you, because I wasn’t 100% happy with any of them in the end. However, I completely accept that my technique and execution was probably a bit off too!

The cupcake recipe I used was much too sweet and a little bit dry. I want my cupcakes to be much more fluffy and moist. They turned out so plain (and boring) that I decided to scoop out the core of each cupcakes and fill it with a bit of caramel frosting.

The caramel frosting, while it had a lovely texture, it was just way too sweet!

The salted caramel for the popcorn wasn’t smooth. The sugar crystalised as the caramel cooled, so it looked grainy. Probably not enough butter? It also made the popcorn go a bit soggy. I’ve made delicious, crunchy caramel popcorn before, so I know I can do it – I just need to find the recipe.

In fact, it was ALL SO SWEET, that even my kids couldn’t eat a full cupcake each.

I pretty much used 1 cup of white sugar for the cupcakes, 3 cups of icing sugar for the frosting and 1 cup of brown sugar for the caramel.

Yikes! That’s a terrifying amount of sugar!

So now that I look at these cupcakes… even though they look absolutely stunning and much like the ones I see in the shops, I don’t think they are worth it. I don’t feel good about making something so unhealthy for my friends and family.

It was amazingly affordable and thus I wasn’t expecting much. If you scroll down on the product page, you might be suckered in (as I was) by all the stunning street style photos of the coat.

Anyway, the coat was utterly perfect for me. I bought the size S, and it fit me across the shoulders, back and arms. Usually I have trouble finding coats for my small frame, but this one was great!

My over the knee boots are a pair from Betts. Amazingly I got them 5 years ago (and reviewed them in this post)! Yet since then, I have always managed to take them out every winter to wear them. That’s pretty great value :)

I was just planning to work towards running longer distances and to increase my running stamina.

But the team at HBF asked me if I’d like to join in the fun at the HBF Run for a Reason and to do a bit of social media for them.

I accepted eagerly and committed myself to both the 12km distance and er… learning how to run and take photos at the same time??

Surely there’s an app for that.

So this was me, the day before the event, picking up my participant running pack at the HBF Event Centre at the Perth Arena.

I asked a HBF Volunteer (a girl on her morning tea break) to take my photo… and I was trying to think of some clever way I could change the word REASON with my silhouette.

But all I could think of was TREASON and RANSOM… and decided they weren’t very appropriate haha. So I was just went with a kind of generic “Y”.

On the morning of the run, I drove to my local train station and caught the train into the city. Participants were allowed free public transport all day. It was fast and easy.

There were thousands of other participants using public transport too, so the atmosphere of the city was buzzing with excitement.

The only downside of the early morning start was that it was so freaking cold!

I think it was 7-8C?? Thankfully the event had a special service where you can wear a jacket or jumper to the event, wear it for the 30-45 minutes while standing around soaking up the pre-event entertainment, and then leave it hanging on the railings at the start line, where it will be donated to charity!

For me, I clung onto every last bit of warmth from my jacket and waited till the *very last minute* to donate it.

And we were off!

Unfortunately when I tried to run and take photos, they turned out terribly blurry.

So this is my “stand still and get into people’s way” photo.

One of the things I looked forward to during this event… was to run through the Northbridge Tunnel (1.6km).

I have never done it before and it was just one of my little running aspirations for my own city. Yay!

Again, I had to stop and take this photo, because I definitely couldn’t run backwards and take snaps.

The whole event was dotted with photographers, TV cameras, cameras on cranes, camera drones… it was all quite exciting!

I spotted two of Perth’s coolest photographers (David Chong and David Broadway) camped by the side of the road. Ok yes, they were my mates, so I slowed down to take a photo of THEM at work.

In fact, I doubled back so I could do a silly slow-motion run for them to photograph.

I pretty much knew then, with all my stopping to take photos antics and uploading to socal media… that my running time for this event was going to be very average! Oh well!

The day cleared up and the sun came out.

It was such a beautiful day for a run next to the river!

I sprinted towards the finish line, but 10 metres before I crossed it… I stopped to take a photo haha!

Aaah in the end, it was so much fun. I really wasn’t concerned about my running time at all.

I was surrounded by so many people who laughed, cheered, skipped, sang. There were people in all shapes and sizes, young and old, all going different speeds, all getting out there, being active, raising money for a good cause – it was a really enjoyable day and a fantastic event to be a part of.

After the event, I was invited over to the corporate sponsor’s area for a VIP breakfast and massage.

That was veeeeery nice indeed! Thank you HBF!

For those interested in my running details…

I did a 12km running event in September last year (after I had a flu) and my running time was 1 hr 30 mins.

For this 12km run, including all my stops, my time was 1 hr 31 mins (which is a pace 7:35 min/km) – how funny!

Usually I run at a pace of 6:00 min/km, so it should have taken me 1 hr 12mins. So I have a small part of runner’s pride in me that is annoyed that these times are set in stone on the internet as my “official times” but as I said, I’m not too fussed about it.

In fact, I’m keen to do it again next year with my kids! And maybe we’ll dress up!

I’ve been doing a bit of running in preparation for my 12km running event; fitting in a 5km here and a 10km there.

I’m a bit nervous about the event, even though I know I shouldn’t be. The competitive part in me thinks that I should SMASH all my previous running records, but the sensible part in me thinks I should just have fun, keep fit… and don’t hurt myself :)

Anyway, I want to talk about this jacket.

It’s a thick, fleecy jacket from Jeanswest’s activewear range. I’d say that it’s more of a coat, than a regular sports jacket (which is usually made from a thin and breathable fabric).

What makes this jacket different is that it has a really nice knit texture on the outside, so it looks stylish and versatile enough to wear over other casual wear outfits, like jeans and a t-shirt. It’s also warm, light and soft, so it feels lovely on the skin.

It’s soooo much nicer than the fleecy hiking jacket that I wear (from Mountain Design!), which is not particularly very insulating, nor is it very stylish haha!

I bought my first Ray-Ban Clubmaster sunglasses a few years ago from Singapore airport.

After a few weeks, I stepped on them (they were in a shopping bag and I accidentally stepped on the bag!) and they were bent out of shape. You could say, the sunglasses and I were crushed.

I put them away, planning to get them fixed, but somehow I lost them. I must’ve placed them in the wrong box during the move to our new house and they have ended up in the bin :(

So… I was super happy to be sent a new pair from SunglassesShop. These are the Ray-Ban Clubmaster sunglasses, Tortoise W0366 Small 49mm.

Ok here’s a bit history about this style of glasses.

They were originally called Browline Glasses and were first produced by a brand called Shuron Ronsir in 1947. They were popular during the 1950s and 1960s, especially in America. Then by the late 60s-70s, they were pretty unpopular.

They made a come back in the 1980s. It was only in the mid 80s that Ray-Ban created the Clubmaster, which quickly became one of their best selling sunglasses along with the Wayfarer and Aviator styles.

Apparently the style took a dive in the 90s. But in the 2010s with the influence of Madmen the tv show, return to 1950s fashion, and the rise of the hipster subculture, the Browline/Clubmaster style has certainly seen a comeback.

For me, I love wearing them because they are a bit retro, they look a bit quirky, and they don’t dominate my face (like my huge black plastic ones).